Vol. III. No. 22.] 
JANUARY, 1905 
[Monthly. 
THE EVIL INFLUENCE OF 
FRUIT SHOWS AND "ELEC- 
TIONS." 
Owners of gardens should exercise pres- 
sure on their gardeners to induce them 
to think of the quaUty of fruit. There 
are various influences adverse to this. 
Fat catalogues are against us in giving 
a far larger number of kinds than any- 
one wants (forty where ten would do) , 
and adding new kinds every year, soft, 
early-rotting, and useless varieties. An- 
other bad influence is in the elections 
of fruit sent to journals. Gardeners re- 
turn lists of fruits that they admire and 
cultivate, and most of them enumerate 
fruits of no quality. Lately an election 
of dessert Apples was organised by a 
weekly journal, and some of the worst 
flavoured Apples came out at the head 
of the poll, such as Worcester Pear- 
maine and King of Pippins. 
It is usually impossible for agardener 
to give any right attention to the best 
fruit if burdened with a great number 
of kinds, of which he may not always 
know the names. Kinds differ in their 
wants, and if we have enough of a first- 
rate fruit it is worth while to study its 
wants as to pruning, vermin, canker, 
and the like, which often spoil the crop. 
Some of the popular kinds, of poor 
quality, are not so liable to fail from these 
causes; but if we want a crop of the finer 
kinds — ^RilpstonePippin — itisneces- 
sary to keep the trees free of bug and 
canker from their youth, and we now 
possess means to that end. This is much 
more easily done if there be a sufficient 
number of the good kinds to make the 
work worth doing. The colonial and 
American growers look well to this, and 
fix their minds on first-rate kinds, such 
as are readily saleable in the London 
and American markets, and the neces- 
sary care is given to the trees. Whether 
our own people grow enough Apples 
of the best kinds or not, does not much 
matter to the general public, because 
good Apples are now seen in such quan- 
tities upon the markets that anybody 
knowing a good Apple can usually get 
it. Eventually, the knowledge of these 
fine flavoured Apples will reach to the 
mass of the people, so that there will be 
little chance for kinds of poor quality. 
Another very unwise thing which works 
harm is the division of Apples into cook- 
ing and eating sorts, an arbitrary ruling 
and one of the many evil results of the 
mania for needless distinctions. The 
only classification worth notice is that 
